Service creation and negotiation in a wireless network

ABSTRACT

A system and method employing a processing node having storage capabilities for facilitating service creation and negotiation in a wireless network, by associating user information and/or service information with network information. User information, service information, and network information are provided periodically and dynamically into the storage. Using the processing node, user information and/or service information are associated with network information without having to access various network elements located throughout the network, to facilitate service creation and negotiation, and thus minimize network processing and network resources.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method of storing andassociating user information, service information, and networkinformation to improve service creation and negotiation in a wirelessnetwork.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The creation and negotiation of services, such as data services,requires the extensive processing of user and/or service informationalong with network information. Service creation generally refers to theprocessing performed when the user requests a new service. Servicenegotiation generally refers to the processing performed when the usermodifies a currently subscribed to service. Service creation andnegotiation both involve an analysis of user information to determine ifa particular user can be provided with the requested service, ananalysis of service information to determine if the requested servicecan be provided to the particular user, and an analysis of networkinformation, such as network resources, to determine if the network isable to support the providing of the requested service to the particularuser. An exemplary conventional system and method of service creationand negotiation will be explained hereinafter.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a conventional wireless network 1. A mobilestation (MS) 2 is in communication with at least one base station (BS)5. A base station 5 has multiple transceivers controlled by a basestation controller (BSC) 10. The BSC 10 manages the radio channels andunderlying hardware resources of all the base stations 5 under itscontrol, and coordinates the activities of the SDU 22 and the basestations 5 during setup, release, and handoff of radio channels fordifferent service configurations. Each base station 5 is incommunication with a mobile station controller (MSC) 40 to establish andmaintain communications between the mobile station 2 and the wirelessnetwork 1. The MSC 40 being responsible for, among other things, calland/or connection control and mobility management. The BSC 10 is incommunication with an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network 20 havinga selection distribution unit (SDU) 22 therein, whereby additionaltraffic channel assignment functionality are also handled by the BSC 10.An Internet/Packet Data Network 30 is connected with the ATM network 20via a data content analysis/interworking function (DA/IWF) module 25.Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a network technology based ontransferring data in packets of a fixed size. The packet size in an ATMnetwork is smaller than those of older network technologies, allowingthe transmittal of video, audio and other data over the same networkwhile no single data type dominates a network communication line. TheDA/IWF module 25 is an intermediary between the ATM network 20 and theInternet/Packet Data Network 30, providing users with, for example,packet data services. The data content analysis (DA) determines the datacharacteristics and its content such as the byte size of images, and howan image is quantized in the pixel or frequency domain. The data contentanalysis (DA) may consist of a number of possible transformations,decoding techniques or protocol conforming techniques to determine thetype and possible content of the data.

A Web server 32, and other Web based interfaces, such as a computerworkstation 34, are operatively connected with the Internet/Packet DataNetwork 30 to allow communication therebetween. The MSC 40 isoperatively connected with the ATM network 20; the MSC 40 beingresponsible for, among other things, establishing and maintaining callsbetween the mobile stations 2 and calls between a mobile station 2 and awireline station 50. A wireline station 50 is operatively connected tothe MSC 40 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 45, so thatcommunication between mobile stations 2, wireline stations 50 and thewireless network 1 can be established.

A home location register (HLR) 70 for supporting applications andservices is connected with a Web server 66 for communicating Web-baseddata therebetween. The HLR 70 is used to support the MSC 40, and assistsin providing mobility management and enhanced service features bystoring user information, such as the user profile which may list theservices subscribed to by the user. The HLR 70 is also connected withthe DA/IWF module 25 to allow communication of user informationtherebetween. Also, the HLR 70 is connected with the BSC 10 tocoordinate the user's request from the mobile station 2 with the userinformation stored in the HLR 70.

In the conventional art, certain portions of the network contain userinformation, some other network elements contain service information,and different portions of the network contain the network's informationand capabilities.

User information generally refers to specific aspects pertaining to aparticular user. Examples of user information include, user profiles(e.g., user name, billing address, location, services currentlysubscribed to, etc.), user preferences based on how services should beprovided (e.g., time of day when certain services should be received,receiving certain services only when in a particular geographicallocation, etc.), etc. In general, user information are stored in the HLR70.

Service information generally refers to information for providingservices and specific information about the services, based on thecapabilities (such as bandwidth) required by each service to functionproperly. Examples of service information include, available services(e.g., voice transmissions, data transmissions such as informationservices, messaging, scheduling, etc.), available service options suchas selectable levels of service quality (e.g., service quality based onsignal-to-noise ratios, bit-error rates, etc.), etc. Service informationare stored in several locations, such as in the HLR 70, the MSC 40, theBSC 10, etc. For example, the available service information may residein the HLR 70, while the service capabilities and options may reside inthe MSC 40 and the BSC 10.

Network information generally refers to information for networkprocessing. Network information can be user-based or cell-based.User-based network information includes, e.g., network capacity based onthe total number of current users, etc. Cell-based network informationincludes, e.g., network signal interference based on availablebandwidth, available network resources required for services, availablenetwork resources for a particular cell, etc. Network information arestored in and accessed from different portions of the network, such as,the ATM network 20, the DA/IWF module 25, the BSC 10, etc. In theconventional art, the HLR 70 contains no network information.

An exemplary conventional method of service creation and negotiation maybegin with the user deciding to newly receive a certain type of dataservice, such as getting stock quotes. For example, say a user whotravels extensively in New York and Boston wishes to always receivestock quotes at 12 noon each day while being in either city. The userwould place his request to receive stock quotes in the above mannerusing his mobile station 2. The mobile station 2 communicates with thebase station 5, and the BSC 10 receives the request from the basestation 5. The BSC 10 then communicates with the HLR 70 to store theuser request and obtain previously stored user information (userprofile, user preferences, etc.) therein.

The ATM network 20 accesses via for example, the BSC 10, userinformation stored in the HLR 70 and notes that the user wants stockquotes every day at 12 noon in New York or Boston. The ATM network 20communicates with the DA/IWF module 25, the MSC 40, the BSC 10 etc., inorder to access various service information (service bandwidthrequirements, service options, etc.). For example, the service bandwidthrequirements for providing stock quotes to the user at 12 noon each dayin New York and Boston is verified. It may be found that if the userrequests his stock quotes when in New York, the service needs to beprovided at a particular service bandwidth, while the service requires adifferent service bandwidth when the user is in Boston.

The ATM network 20 further communicates with the DA/IWF module 25, theMSC 40, the BSC 10 etc., to access network information (availablenetwork resources, network support capabilities such as network traffic,signal interference caused in certain wireless network cells due to alarge number of existing users accessing the network, etc.) forproviding the user with stock quotes at 12 noon in New York and Boston.For example, the network information may indicate that the anticipatednetwork traffic at the user requested 12 noon time period in New Yorkwill be extremely heavy, while the anticipated network traffic at 12noon in Boston will be light.

In this manner, user information and/or service information (accessedand obtained from various network elements) are compared with networkinformation (accessed and obtained from various network elements) to seeif the newly requested service can be performed so that the service canbe supported and provided to the user. For each user and for eachservice request, the ATM network 20, the DA/IWF module 25, the BSC 10,etc. cooperate to determine whether the network capabilities can allowthe user to get the requested service. For example, if there arecurrently too many users on the network who have requested stock quotesor if there is a limit on the number of permitted users to receive stockquotes, the user will be informed that the network is at full capacityand asks the user to attempt access at another time.

If the user and service information and the network capabilities aresuch that the requested stock quote information can be provided to theuser, the network processing proceeds to access stock quote data. If,for example, the stock quotes are to be provided by a financial newsorganization having a Web server 32, the DA/IWF module 25 furthercommunicates with the Internet/Packet Data Network 30 to receive stockquote data from the Web server 32.

Like service creation, the user's request to modify (i.e., negotiate) acurrently subscribed service is performed in a similar manner. Forexample, say the user currently subscribing to the previouslyestablished service of receiving stock quotes every day at 12 noon inNew York or Boston wishes to modify this service so that he gets hisstock quotes at 1 pm instead.

Service negotiation will be begin upon the user placing a request via,for example, his mobile station 2. As with the process for servicecreation, the mobile station 2 communicates with the base station 5, andthe BSC 10 receives the request from the base station 5. The BSC 10 thencommunicates with the HLR 70 to store the user request and obtainpreviously stored user information. The ATM network 20 accesses userinformation stored in the HLR 70 and notes that the user wants stockquotes every day at 1 pm in New York or Boston. The ATM network 20communicates with the DA/IWF module 25, the MSC 40, the BSC 10 etc., inorder to access various service information (such as service bandwidthrequirements) for providing stock quotes at 1 pm in New York or Boston.The ATM network 20 further communicates with the DA/IWF module 25, theMSC 40, the BSC 10 etc., to access network information for providingstock quotes at 1 pm in New York or Boston. The various elements of thecommunications network, such as the base station 5, the BSC 10, the ATMnetwork 20, the HLR 70, the DA/IWF module 25 and the MSC 40 allcooperate with one another to obtain the necessary user and/or serviceinformation and network information to determine whether the user cannegotiate (modify) his current stock quote service to be received at 1pm instead of 12 noon.

As can be understood by those skilled in the art, receiving stock quotesis only one type of service that the user may request or negotiatethrough the wireless network. A multitude of other services can beprovided as well.

Thus, network information, in addition to user and/or serviceinformation, are required to determine whether the user's desiredmodifications to his stock quote service can be negotiated between theuser and the network. In this manner, services created or negotiatedrequires the separate accessing and separate processing of user and/orservice information and network information stored in various locationsof the network on a per user basis or per call basis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method in accordance with the present invention facilitatesservice creation and negotiation in a wireless network by, in oneembodiment, establishing storage capabilities in the wireless networkfor storing network information and user information, and in response toa request from a user to create or negotiate a service, accessingnetwork information and user information; comparing the requests withnetwork information and user information; and providing the requestedservice based upon the comparison. In a preferred embodiment, thecomparing of the request with network and user information involves“associating” user information with network information. Associatingmeans the establishing of a relationship between at least two differentparameters or the logically linking of at least two differentparameters. For example, for a particular user location (userinformation), the available network resources (network information) forthe user at that particular user location is obtained and accessed sothat user information and network information are “associated” to have adependent relationship therebetween. In other words, particular userinformation is dependent with particular network information such that alogical link exists therebetween.

Service information may be additional employed to facilitate servicecreation and negotiation, wherein user information and/or serviceinformation are associated with network information by the processingnode. User information, service information and network information areprovided into the storage of the processing node, periodically (e.g.,stored at certain intervals of time) and dynamically (e.g., updatingbased on changing network operating environment conditions).

User information generally refers to specific aspects pertaining to aparticular user. Examples of user information include, user profiles(e.g., user name, billing address, location, services currentlysubscribed to, etc.), user preferences based on how services should beprovided (e.g., time of day when certain services should be recieved,receiving certain services only when in a particular geographicallocation, etc.), etc.

Service information generally refers to information available to serviceproviders for providing services and specific information about theservices themselves. Examples of service information include, availableservices and their specifics (e.g., voice transmissions, datatransmissions such as information services, messaging, scheduling,etc.), available service options such as selectable levels of servicequality (e.g., service quality based on signal-to-noise ratios,bit-error rates, etc.), etc.

Network information generally refers to information for networkprocessing. Examples of network information include, available networkresources required for services, network capacity, network traffic,network signal interference, etc.

In accordance with the present invention, user information and/orservice information are associated with network information withouthaving to access various network elements located throughout thenetwork, to facilitate service creation and negotiation, and thusminimize network processing and network resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given hereinbelow and from the accompanyingdrawings, which are given by illustration only, and thus are notlimitative of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative system for a wireless serviceprovider network in accordance with the conventional art.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an illustrative system for a wireless serviceprovider network in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is, in part, recognizing the problems of theconventional system and method of service creation and negotiationrequiring separate processing for accessing different elements of thenetwork, and associating user and/or service information with networkcapabilities for each type of service to be created and/or negotiatedfor each service on a per user basis or per call basis.

For each service request, the conventional network processing ofverifying the user and service information with the network capabilitiesneeds to be performed differently, as different information are storedin different portions of the network. For example, the networkprocessing for negotiating sports scores need not go through theInternet/Packet Data Network 30 if the sports scores are providedthrough non-Web-based methods, such as Over the Air Activation ServiceProvisioning (OTASP). This differs from the network processing andnetwork elements used in, for example, getting stock quotes providedfrom a Web server, which requires Web-based network processing via theInternet/Packet Data Network 30.

The network service provider needs to coordinate and access thesedifferent portions of the network each time a user creates or negotiatesa service in order to obtain and compare user and service informationwith network information. Wireless service providers are overwhelmed intrying to meet consumer demands. The need to provide large amounts ofdata, such as Web-based content, to users who wish to create andnegotiate services only increases these difficulties. Furthermore, inthe conventional art, the user will only be informed whether hisrequested service can be provided after the various network elementscomplete the verification process of comparing user and/or serviceinformation with the network information for each type of service.

Thus, the present inventors recognized a need to improve the processingof service configuration and negotiation so that services can be createdand/or negotiated by the user without requiring separate excessiveprocessing of each type of service to be created or negotiated. Toachieve this, a processing node with storage capabilities is employed inaccordance with the present invention to advantageously minimize networkprocessing and network resources. Employing the present inventionalleviates the burdens on network processing resources because allinformation regarding the user and/or service and the network are easilyaccessible from and updated into one place, i.e., the processing node,and multiple service requests can also be easily handled by theprocessing node, whereas the conventional art required networkprocessing to be performed separately for each service request.

Wireless Network Architecture

FIG. 2 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with a preferredembodiment of the present invention. All network components are the sameas those in the conventional art wireless network shown in FIG. 1, withthe exception of a service data node (SDN) 60 and elements associatedthereto. Accordingly, like reference numerals have been used todesignate like components and the description thereof will not berepeated for the sake of brevity.

The SDN 60 comprises a service creation environment (SCE) 62 and aservice database (SDB) 64. The SDN 60 is connected with various networkelements, such as, the ATM network 20 and the DA/IWF module 25. The SDN60 processes and “associates” user and/or service information withnetwork information without having to access various elements locatedthroughout the network, to facilitate service creation and negotiation,and thus minimize network processing and network resources. Here,“associates” means the establishing of a relationship between at leasttwo different parameters or the logically linking of at least twodifferent parameters. For example, for a particular user location (userinformation), the available network resources (network information) forthe user at that particular user location is obtained and accessed sothat user information and network information are “associated” to have adependent relationship therebetween. In other words, particular userinformation is dependent with particular network information such that alogical link exists therebetween.

According to a preferred embodiment, network and service information arestored in the SCE 62, while user and service information is stored inthe SDB 64.

Depending upon the particular implementation methods and elements usedin the network, a plurality of service data nodes (SDN) 60 may beemployed in order to accommodate the size of the network and/or thenumber of subscribers/users of the network. One skilled in the art wouldunderstand that the enabling descriptions above regarding theimplementation of one SDN 60 in the network, can also be applied whenimplementing a plurality of SDNs 60 in the network.

Information Databases

In a preferred embodiment, network and service information are stored inthe SCE 62, while user and service information is stored in the SDB 64.The SCE 62 is connected with the Web server 66 and accessed by the uservia, for example, a mobile station 2. Network information is stored intothe SCE 62 by the service provider via network elements, such as, theATM network 20, the DA/IWF module 25, the Web server 66, etc. The SDB64, connected with the BSC 10 and the HLR 70, stores user information,such as, information regarding the wireless network cell location inwhich the user presently resides in. Service information from the BSC 10are stored in the SDB 64 as well. The SCE 62 and the SDB 64 can beupdated periodically (e.g., after certain intervals of time) and/ordynamically (e.g., updating based on changing network operatingenvironment conditions) to store user, service and network informationtherein.

In the conventional art, various user, service and network informationare stored at different portions of the wireless network, independentlyand/or unlinked with one another. For example, as well known in theconventional art, the HLR 70 only has user information (e.g., userprofiles, user preferences, etc.) stored therein, while various portionsof the network, such as in the HLR 70, the MSC 40, the BSC 10, etc.contain different service information (e.g., available services, serviceoptions, etc.) and network information (e.g., available networkresources required for services, network capacity, network traffic,network signal interference, network protocols, etc.).

An embodiment of the present invention employs a processing node, i.e.,a storage data node (SDN) 60 with SCE 62 and SDB 64, to dynamicallystore and allow access to user, service and network information. Forexample, Web-based network information are stored into the SCE 62.Web-based information include, for example, image processing techniques,Web proxy data, etc. Other well-known wireless network information, suchas data transfer information including data packet burst controlfunctions, are stored in the SDB 64. Additionally, the SDB 64 stores thenecessary user information to determine whether the user can receive therequested service; the user information being obtained from the HLR 70.In this manner, various user, service and network information aredynamically stored, in for example, the SCE 62 and the SDB 64, so thatthe user's request to create or modify a service can be verified by theSDN 60 in a simple manner by accessing the SCE 62 and the SDB 64,instead of having to obtain the user, service and network informationfrom various, independent, and/or unlinked sources within the network,each time a service creation or negotiation is performed.

The user, service and network information need to be dynamically and/orperiodically stored and updated, because the user and servicecharacteristics change, and the network environment varies with time. Itwill be appreciated based on the foregoing that the specificimplementation methods used in updating and dynamic storing of user,service and network information into storage of the SDN 60 is a matterof design choice to achieve the desired dynamic storing of information.

The dynamic storing of network information coordinated through the SDN60 by service provider prior to and during service creation andnegotiation include the following operations. For example, the BSC 10stores the information of the radio environment, the access technologyused, i.e., a code-division multiple-access (CDMA), a time-divisionmultiple-access (TDMA) or a global system for mobile communications(GSM) standard, etc., and the loading capacity (i.e., whether it cansupport additional users with data rate and quality of service desired)of the base station 5 of the user concerned. The base station 5 measuresthe radio environment and the load associated interference situation itcreates. The BSC 10 sends network information, such as data transferinformation including data packet burst control functions, periodicallyto the SDB 64. Other well-known Web-based network information, such asWeb protocol data, etc., are sent periodically to the SCE 62 as wellupon changing of the network environment. Based on the storedinformation, certain conventionally known mapping operations areperformed for supporting various services known in the art, grades ofservices known in the art or quality of services known in the art. Forexample, as the user moves to a new cell, the service databaseinformation also needs to be updated based on the new cell.

The downstream data that are returned in response to a user Web browseror client request has certain characteristics, which need to beascertained. The data content analysis performed by the DA/IWF module 25involves processing steps well known in the art. Furthermore,transcoding proxies and efficient compression techniques well known inthe art may be applied to the data content to offset any processingdelays. Upon completing the above operations, the SCE 62 and the SDB 64contain all the information needed for allowing users to create ornegotiate a service.

In accordance with the present invention, the SCE 62 and the SDB 64 arenot necessarily limited to being separate databases in one physicallocation of the network. Instead, the SCE 62 and the SDB 64 may bedistributed databases located throughout the network. Although thedistributed databases would require synchronization techniques so thatthe distributed databases are dependent and/or linked together, the userconfigurable system and method according to the present inventionemploying a service data node processes services creation andnegotiation in a more efficient manner. An example of achievingdistributed databases to be dependent and/or linked together accordingto the present invention, is by “associating” (e.g., establishing arelationship or logically linking) user and/or service information withnetwork information. User information is stored in the SDN 60 andnetwork information pertaining to (i.e., associated with) thatparticular user information is found and also stored in the SDN 60 orsome other location. In addition to user information, serviceinformation associated (e.g., logically linked) with the userinformation or network information can also be stored and updated in theSDN 60 or some other location. A more detailed description of how userand/or service information are associated with network information willfollow.

Operation of Service Data Node (SDN)

Unlike the conventional art, the present invention employs a networkprocessing scheme with user and/or service information and networkinformation being processed and stored in an easily accessible,logically connected manner. The present invention “associates” the userand/or service information with network information in a dependentand/or linked manner such that particular user and/or serviceinformation is linked with corresponding network information. Theinformation needed to determine whether service could be provided for aparticular service request made by a particular user can be determinedin advance. As such, in response to a service request a determination asto whether the requested service can be provided can be made with areduced number of network system requests for user, service and networkinformation. Additionally, the amount of time required for making thedetermination and/or the required network processing of user, serviceand network information after the request can be reduced.

The general network processing involved in determining service creationand negotiation are all known in the art, but the present inventionconveniently performs these processing steps via a processing node,i.e., the SDN 60. A method of service creation and negotiation using theSDN 60 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention willnow be described.

As with the example used to describe the background of the invention,the user may request a new service, such as getting stock quotes at 12noon when the user is in New York or Boston. For example, the userplaces his request via a mobile station 2 which communicates with thebase station 5, and the BSC 10 receives the request from the basestation 5. The BSC 10 then communicates with the SDN 60, in particularthe SDB 64 therein. However, unlike the conventional art, prior toservice creation (or service negotiation) initiated by the user, the SDB64 has network information dynamically stored therein by various networkelements, such as the ATM network 20, the DA/IWF module 25, etc. Networkinformation is also dynamically stored into the SCE 62 from othernetwork elements, such as a Web server 66 connected to the wirelessnetwork 1. Additionally, user information obtained from the HLR 70containing the user's profile and other information about the user, aredynamically stored into the SDB 64 and used to determine whether theuser can receive the requested stock quotes.

Upon receiving the user request, the SDN 60 proceeds to check itsstorage to locate the appropriate user information for the particularuser making the service request. The user request of getting stockquotes at 12 noon when the user is in New York or Boston are stored intothe user profile. Next, the SDN 60 proceeds to check its storage tolocate the appropriate network information associated with the user anduser request, instead of having numerous network elements check theirown storage databases as in the conventional art. For example, thenetwork information such as available network resources related toproviding the particular user with stock quotes at 12 noon, andavailable network resources related to providing the user being in NewYork or Boston are accessed by the SDN 60 to determine whether theinformation requested by the user can be provided.

Additionally, the SDN 60 may proceed to check its storage to locateappropriate service information, such as available service resources.For example, the service bandwidth requirements for providing stockquotes to the user at 12 noon using the previously determined networkresources are verified. Also, the service bandwidth requirements forproviding stock quotes to the user each day in New York and Boston usingthe previously determined network resources are verified. It may befound that if the user requests his stock quotes when in New York, theservice needs to be provided at a particular service bandwidth usingcertain network resources, while the service requires a differentservice bandwidth when the user is in Boston using certain other networkresources. In this manner, the user and/or service information and theirassociated network information are accessed and compared by the SDN 60.

With the SDN 60 having network and service information stored in the SCE62, while user and service information are stored in the SDB 64, thenetwork processing is performed through accessing only the SDN 60, tothus quickly ascertain whether the requested service creation ornegotiation can be provided. For example, the SDN 60 determines bycomparing the information stored in the SCE 62 and the SDB 64, whetherthere are currently too many users on the network who have requestedstock quotes at 12 noon or whether there is a limit on the number ofpermitted users to receive stock quotes in New York or in Boston. If therequested stock quotes cannot be provided, the user will be quicklyinformed that the network is at full capacity and asked to attemptaccess at another time.

If the SDN 60 determines the user and/or service information and thenetwork capabilities are such that the requested stock quotes can beprovided to the user, the network processing proceeds to access stockquote data using conventional techniques known to those skilled in theart. If the stock quotes are to be provided by a financial newsorganization having a Web server 32, the DA/IWF module 25 furthercommunicates with the Internet/Packet Data Network 30 to receive stockquote data from the Web server 32. In this manner the processinginvolved in determining service creation are all known in the art, butthe present invention performs these processing steps via accessing acentral location, i.e., the SDN 60.

Thereafter, if the user wishes to modify (i.e., negotiate) thesubscribed to stock quote service so that his quotes are received at 1pm instead of 12 noon, the SDN 60 facilitates the processing involved byaccessing its storage having user and/or service information and theirassociated network information in a manner similar to that describedabove for service creation. By associating various user and/or serviceinformation with network information, user, service and networkinformation can be stored in a single location such as a database in theSDN 60 or physically distributed databases located throughout thenetwork. As such, user and/or service information and networkinformation are associated so that each type of information has somerelationship with other types of information. Accordingly, differenttypes of information are stored and updated in one or a plurality ofphysical locations, whereby the different types of information have alogically linked relationship.

The user's request to negotiate his currently subscribed service will beprocessed upon the user placing a request via, for example, his mobilestation 2. As with the process for service creation according to thepresent invention employing the SDN 60, various elements of thecommunications network, such as the base station 5, the base stationcontroller 10, the ATM network 20, the HLR 70, the DA/IWF module 25 andthe MSC 40 all cooperate prior to user initiated service creation orservice negotiation to store into the SCE 62 and the SDB 64 of the SDN60, the necessary user and/or service information and informationregarding the network capabilities. Thus, the SDN 60 compares networkinformation and user and/or service information to determine whether theuser's desired modifications to his service can be negotiated betweenthe user and the network.

As can be understood by those skilled in the art, stock quotes and amultitude of other services can be provided to the user. However, unlikethe conventional art, the network processing according to the presentinvention of verifying the user and/or service information and thenetwork information is performed together at one time via the SDN 60,because different user and/or service information and networkinformation are stored and accessed via the SDN 60 of the wirelessnetwork.

By using the SDN 60, the capabilities and request from a user in termsof qualities and services desired are compared with the networkcapabilities (information). A plurality of service processing nodes maybe employed, requiring communication with the other service nodes formaking sure that the capabilities are matched from end to end, asunderstood by those of ordinary skill in the art. For communicating withother service nodes, some existing protocols may be used or newprotocols may be developed using techniques known in the art.

The above-described matching of network capabilities with user and/orservice information to quickly determine if the user can create ornegotiate a service helps in reducing call processing and signalingresources in a network, thus minimizing signal processing and the use ofnetwork resources. As the service creation and administration isautomated via a processing node, the administrative and overhead expenseinvolved for a service provider is reduced to a great extent, and a usercan create his services without extensive network provider intervention.

This specification describes various illustrative embodiments of themethod of the invention. The scope of the claims is intended to covervarious modifications and equivalent arrangements of the illustrativeembodiments disclosed in the specification. Therefore, the followingclaims should be accorded the reasonably broadest interpretation tocover modifications, equivalent structures, and features which areconsistent with the spirit and scope of the invention disclosed herein.

1. A method of service creation and/or negotiation in a wirelessnetwork, comprising: receiving a request for service creation ornegotiation; accessing a logically linked dynamic storage in accordancewith the request without having to access any other portions of thenetwork to minimize signal overloading; obtaining, from the storage,user information associated with the request; obtaining, from thestorage, network information associated with the user information;comparing the request with the user information and the associatednetwork information; and providing the requested service based on thecomparison.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the logically linkeddynamic storage is dynamically updated in accordance with the user andnetwork information.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step ofproviding the requested service is performed by accessing the logicallylinked dynamic storage.
 4. A method of service creation and/ornegotiation in a wireless network, comprising: receiving a request forservice creation or negotiation; accessing a logically linked dynamicstorage in accordance with the request without having to access anyother portions of the network; obtaining, from the storage, serviceinformation associated with the request; obtaining, from the storage,user information associated with the service information; obtaining,from the storage, network information associated with the userinformation; comparing the service information and user information withthe associated network information; and providing the requested servicebased on the comparison.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the logicallylinked dynamic storage is dynamically updated in accordance with theuser, service and network information.
 6. The method of claim 4, whereinthe step of providing the requested performed by accessing the logicallylinked dynamic storage.
 7. A method of service creation and negotiationin a wireless network, comprising: receiving a request from a user tocreate or negotiate a service; accessing a storage having userinformation, service information and network information stored thereinwithout having to access any other portions of the wireless network;comparing the request with the user information, the service informationand the network information; and providing the data service to the userbased upon the comparison.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:periodically obtaining user, service and network information; anddynamically updating the storage by periodically storing theperiodically obtained user, service and network information.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the dynamic storing includes storing networkinformation into at least a first database.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the dynamic storing includes storing user information into asecond database.
 11. A method of user configurable service creation andnegotiation in a wireless network, comprising: receiving a request froma user to create or negotiate data services; accessing at least a firstdatabase having network information and user information stored thereinwithout having to access any other portions of the wireless network;comparing the requests with the network information and the userinformation; and providing the data services to the user based upon thecomparison.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising a step ofdynamically storing the network information and the user informationinto the first database, the network information being wireless networkinformation.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising a step ofdynamically storing Web-based network information into a seconddatabase.
 14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step ofperiodically updating at least the first database with updated networkand user information.
 15. A system allowing service creation andnegotiation in a wireless network, comprising: a receiver to receive arequest from a user to create or negotiate a service; and a centralprocessing node to process the request by comparing the request withuser information, service information and network informationdynamically stored therein without having to access any other portionsof the wireless network, and to provide the requested service to theuser based upon the comparison.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein thecentral processing node further comprises a first database having thenetwork information dynamically stored therein.
 17. The system of claim16, wherein the central processing node further comprises a seconddatabase having the user information dynamically stored therein.
 18. Thesystem of claim 15, further comprising a first database having thenetwork information dynamically stored therein.
 19. The system of claim18, further comprising a second database having the user informationdynamically stored therein.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein thecentral processing node compares has been changed to—the networkinformation and the user information.
 21. The system of claim 15,wherein the central processing node periodically updates the networkinformation and the user information.
 22. A system allowing servicecreation and negotiation in a wireless network, comprising: at least afirst database storing network information and user information; and acentral processing node processing user requests by accessing the firstdatabase, comparing the requests with the network information and theuser information dynamically stored in the first database without havingto access any other portions of the wireless network, and providing therequested services to the users based upon the comparisons.
 23. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the first database has the networkinformation and the user information dynamically stored therein, thenetwork information being wireless network information.
 24. The systemof claim 23, further comprising: a second database having Web-basednetwork information dynamically stored therein; and wherein the centralprocessing node compares the requests with the network information andthe user information stored in the first and second databases.
 25. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein the central processing node periodicallyupdates at least the first database with updated network and userinformation.
 26. The system of claim 22, wherein the first database hasa plurality of portions being physically distributed throughout theentire wireless network, the distributed portions being connectivelylinked with the central processing node.
 27. The system of claim 22,wherein the central processing node includes the first database.